During the performance of various dental procedures, the dentist's continuous visualization of and access to all points within the patient's mouth is absolutely essential. A number of devices have long been used to retract the patient's lips and cheeks to provide such access. In the experience of this inventor, such devices have a tendency to be relatively complex in construction and in use. Similarly, suction tubes have long been used by practitioners to evacuate blood and saliva from the patient's mouth. Most frequently, the procedure being performed must be briefly interrupted to allow the dental assistant to insert the suction tube, evacuate the patient's mouth and then remove the tube, the dental assistant being in an almost continuous state of standby. What is needed is a device that combines the mouth retraction function as stated above with this suction capability.
In the experience of this inventor, such combined devices have also been attempted in the prior art. But again, such devices tend to lack simplicity in design, in manufacture and in functionality. For example, such attempts are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,255 issued to Cohen et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,298 issued to Hickham.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful dental device that combines mouth retraction capabilities with suction capabilities. It is another object to provide such a dental device that is simple in construction and easy to use. It is still another object to provide such a dental device that can be constructed to be disposable or nondisposable. It is yet another object to provide such a dental device that can be constructed to accommodate patient mouths of any size. It is still a further object to provide such a dental device that can incorporate fiber optic technology to provide a selective light source as such is desired or required by the particular procedure that is being performed.